Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-14
TO J, n. BROW MING.
An Open Letter from Lana GommIs-
sl0ner Hall TO the Representative
OF the Jumbo District.
sean >hlag abo1t the Intentions of the
commissioner and of a Prospective
Trip to the Panhandle.
AJ>rIX, TEX. Aug Il, lse7.

Governor hSSsi WHICH las appcHGeU III
several Of the great dsiIies, deserves
some attention. It is due to tae public
That i 10 not pass unanswered.
Your reflections On the writer, Who as-
peci&t ? IS charged with the adninistr2-
9i0G 4 the rev land law, might, so far es
ne 5 Concerned, remain Unaoiicad The
Law 5 before The peoI 9 end the
manner and results 81 lis exscUt,oc will
aoCI De known Of all men. But il is woII
tla. the pub ic be not misled or made to
suffer from misrepresentation.
That you, VINO la)Ored so persiSteltly to
mar, mutiiate and defeat this law while i
was being ircmed, slould be heard from
NJ tl.s juncture, is not surprising. Just
~ the time when its wisdom IS being
INDICATED and It's success almost assur-
e., = IS not unexpected that you should
re1ew the stack No man ever wished
To- ne success of g lnessUTe;W h CD he had
fought SO DlterlY as you did this Isw. Il
: not human nature. (Pla writer is
s1g.e mat you voted for 1he bill on its
I'M. passagt Your yinGicati0n de-
m77d~ It's : lure. And it IS pop.6, per
haps, tat If public opinion, uliclc,,tly
mis- Il, could be noT aroused, 5pnGr
clam " mlgat follow which would IF CT
the .aaGfastneSs of the executors Of the
lsW, and thus your original aims might
yet 5e gained.
This law is the will Of the people, and
the Commissioner is their servant. His
an notion is TO administer it acceptably 20
them and TO the benefit of the whole
sat His sworn duty is to administer
/, faithfully. y wv to proceed to susw5r
YOU letter specifically. He must decline
~ give you The assurance demanded that
taC.usl settlers Dc allowed 10 purchase
tlei- lands 9. II. minimum price fixed by
1se isw." You cannot have forgotten
t1S. N Cfflr5 was mace, many members
f2yJf...G Il, % put such q provision in the
law WG.ie i vas Uldar consideration, but
ines legislature refused &c 30 so. SuCh
IN amendment aCtualy passed the House
of which you were member, but WIS
afterwards recOnsdered. How cen you
new, IN advance of clsssin cutiOn, ask for
sucd 9 pledge, the wing Of which wCQid
indicate . disregard of law and con
temp for the peoples Representatives:
T1a ''diSquietlng rGmors'i you mention
are to be regretted, but tnc Commissioner
Goes not fee! responsible for them. Can
he declare in advance 81 what price lands
". 3e sold, when he is required TO
"cause to be sHiliuily CLASSIFIED and
va.ueG?n lie certainly cannot, although
Ms ignorance of these lsnds IS net So
"tJtaI" as you seem to belley1. 1t was
not the Commissioner who informed vcG
"tlat he had 10 personal knowledge OF
that county END IT'S lalts." The Com
missioner a&t vi2ited that country and
a.u.seu surveyed tens OF thousands II
acr If its lands many years before he
made your acquaintance or before your
"nersOnal knowledge" Of the Panhandle
began; end for months past re he's been
informing himself further from every
source Available. He expects very soon
% receive valuable and SccQrate lnfcrma-
'IpI from me UainstrUcted Cl2Ssifer whom
you mention and who asl0uisnat you
Iy..n his ignorance. When ne sends IL
the description of the lands which he has
been directed TO examine the Commits
si0Der will have ho DIM Guilty in causing
tltm 20 De "skilIfuly classified" aud the
ru9lic interest will rot suffer from the
agents sex Of previous personal kn0wi-
edge. He is g practical and educated
surveyor, thoroughly competent, and
when he shall have put up the corners and
marks the lines Of the school lands il
Eemphiil snd Llpscomb counties the
actual settler viii be benefited, although
the business Of the local surveyor maY
afterwards be sisck. This work, YOU ara
sware, Is done at the expense of the rail-
road under the operation OF another law,
wllcn you fought very nit eTly whea 4
was "a bill" This agent or Clessiter, It's
true, carried with him very few "iuSlruC-
TONS" but he carried enough. He is IN
struCted to accurately Slid mlputeiy de-
scribe each quarter Of every section,
whether watered or dry, whether arabic
or rocky ard broken, whether
smooth, undulating or hiiiy, wheth.
eT poor or fertile. Also sill the
Information he csn gather as 10 land val
ues N every DeighborhO0d. The Com
missioner will then cause the same to be
"skilliully ciassifi "a and valued - As be
fore stated, it c2onCt be tGI1 in advance
wlat this valuation will be. But it will be
sach as will not retard tue settlement Ui
the country" it will be sUcl as will not
only enable but will induce. move and
persuade actual settlers to take il. The
interest Of the school fund demands this
Now for your complaint to the Gov
erDor "lhst it has been one mouth since
this act took effect" etc. l. il not q lit
tie uukind il not unreasonable 80 Criticise
the Commissioner for not having accom-
plished more? His duties are multitude
nous and mis- responsibilities tremendous
Il certainly requires more ths0 thirty
days to prepare for sale nearly so, O9G, 0CJ
screS Of land under 8 law which requires
Iney shell first be skilIfuily classified.
The Commissioner might have fur
nlshed you copy of his rules snd regu-
.stions if you had applied to him instead
OF to the Corresponding Clerk" for thus
far he hiss found it necessary to adopt
sud promulgste but one, to wit: "Is il
expressly understood tnat this lease i:
Eai ciect TO c!sssific stion and subj c
TO The rights Of actual settlers under the
jsyv." This opens to settlement evsTy
s-,icCltura! section SIS soon as it shall
hSve been classified, aad secures tht
rlgct OF every actual settler who was on
grazing section CT July to purchase
four sections OF grazing lands so soon q:
classified, whether the same shsll have
been previously leased or not.
The Commissioner hopes to he sble tc
get along with very few rules snd Teguls
tons. The law is wonderfully full and
explicit, and you have but to read it care
fully to know what is going TO be done
II shy rules are made they will be per-
feCty in harmony with the lazy ard CT
minor importance. He will furnish the
county clerks with blsnks snd few
brief Instructions when the lists of class
itied lands are filed in their offices fol-
public Inspection.
Would you believe that the necessity
Tor having these lands classified Is almost